Local Sports

March 15, 2011

PROVIDENCE â€” Keno Davis never failed to mention that Providence College featured one of the youngest menâ€™s basketball teams in the Big East, if not the country. Many saw that as a plea or a copout on Davisâ€™ part, but the fact that the Friarsâ€™ 2010-11 roster was comprised of 10 first- or second-year players is not lost on athletic director Bob Driscoll.

March 14, 2011

The great unknown turned into the great success for boysâ€™ basketball in Rhode Island. Thanks to the countless thrills and memories the all-inclusive state tournament provided, the format of crowning one undisputed champion is likely here to stay.

March 14, 2011

SOUTH KINGSTOWN â€” â€śWe stayed at a high level,â€ť deadpanned Tom â€śSaarâ€ť Sorrentine as his St. Raphael Academy players were hooting and hollering in the adjacent room.
In the same breath Sorrentine, donning a championship hat, added, â€śYou could never relax.â€ť
That in a nutshell summarizes SRAâ€™s journey back to the top of the Rhode Island high school basketball mountain. The opposition tried its best to rattle the Saints, but when it mattered most, Sorrentineâ€™s crew rose to the occasion.

March 14, 2011

PORTSMOUTH â€” Over the past several years, Portsmouth Abbeyâ€™s rink has been a house of horrors for Cumberland High, a building that has been as cold to the Clippers as the frigid temperatures inside its confines.
On Sunday afternoon, the Clippers endured their latest nightmare at the arena, and it resulted in a swift exit from the Division II playoffs.
The third-seeded Clippers dropped the third and deciding game of their best-of-three semifinal-round series to second-seeded Portsmouth High in the form of a 5-3 defeat that wasnâ€™t nearly as close as the score indicates.

March 12, 2011

SOUTH KINGSTOWN â€“ Behold the skill set of Charles Correa.
St. Raphaelâ€™s talented point guard couldnâ€™t have picked a better time to showcase his talents. With a berth in the finals of the open state tournament on the line, Correa did his part in SRAâ€™s 66-48 quarterfinal win against North Providence Friday night at URIâ€™s Ryan Center.

March 12, 2011

PROVIDENCE â€“ Bob Driscoll is back on the clock, and this time the Providence College athletic director is bringing some important friends along for the ride.
For the second time in three years, Driscoll finds himself making an important assessment of the menâ€™s basketball program. PC parted ways with Keno Davis on Friday after three turbulent seasons, a tenure that was marked by tough times on and away from the court. Speaking from inside his Alumni Hall office late Friday afternoon, Driscoll mentioned he plans on forming a search committee in his quest to find the next Friar coach.

March 12, 2011

Officially, the Keno Davis Era at Providence College ended Friday, when the school severed its working relationship with the head coach, one many perceived upon his hiring three years ago was the missing link in bringing respectability to the menâ€™s basketball program.
Technically, Davisâ€™ fate at PC was sealed last May 18, when star player Jamine â€śGreedyâ€ť Peterson was expelled after an undisclosed incident in a dorm room on campus. The incidents that came before and after Petersonâ€™s ouster were a further death knell to a situation that Davis was never able to recover from.

March 11, 2011

There are times when Tom â€śSaarâ€ť Sorrentine probably wishes he had a traffic light on the bench. Instead of making tiresome gyrations with his hands and feet and straining his vocal cords, Sorrentine could simply stand and rely on the signaling device to get the message across.

March 10, 2011

PAWTUCKET â€“ Mike Kayata and Matt Pita arenâ€™t about to tell Tom â€śSaarâ€ť Sorrentine anything he doesnâ€™t already know. On Monday the longtime St. Raphael Academy coach was present as North Providence ushered top seed Cranston West out of the state tournament behind a reverse lay-in in the dying seconds from one of the Cougarsâ€™ chief threats, Austin Van Bemmelen.

March 9, 2011

Two down, four to go.
Four wins are what separates three of the Blackstone Valleyâ€™s boysâ€™ hockey teams -- Mount St. Charles Academy, Cumberland High, and East Providence High -- from a date with state championship glory.
And the road for those teams continue this weekend when a half dozen best-of-three semifinal-round series around the state take place.